Auctions ruined by scam bidders

NeverEnough

Newest "sport" on ebay seems to be scam bidders ruining Knitting Machine auctions all too frequently with ridiculously high scam bids which they then of course fail to pay, wasting loads of time in having to open disputes, get listing fees back etc and relist, probably losing genuine buyers in the process.

Question is, is there any way of preventing bidders with the ubiquitous "private feedback" from bidding on your auction ? I have my preferences set as tightly as possible but have noted that most of these scam bids seem to come from "private feedback" accounts which are relatively new (a month or two old) which there seems to be no way of stopping.

I have relisted but on a Best Offer / Buy It Now basis so I have a bit more control. The machine ended on over £1000 due to the scam bids - it would normally sell for around £650-£850.

I do wish ebay would protect sellers a bit more from this behaviour - I understand it is absolutely rife in certain categories and considered a great "sport" by the scammers.

porto_bello

Regrettably, you can't simply place a block on buyers with their feedback set to private.

I only wish there were! I too have found buyers that eBay members with private feedback are the most problematic. No doubt the feedback is set to private to hide a past history of issues that they do not wish us to see.

chancesare_2

When you say you have your prefs set tightly, do you have the credit card option ticked? Thats the one to prevent throw away account holders bidding.

NeverEnough

Thanks for that - Am going to go and see if I can tighten up more.......can't do immediate payment on buy it now though, as a lot of people like to collect in person and I'm not going to chance it with such expensive equipment - crooked chargebacks are well known.